In the CALABARZON Region, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through the strengthened implementation of various social protection programs and services, takes part in the national government’s goal of promoting the welfare of children, reducing poverty and improving the society.

DSWD IV-A Regional Director Leticia Diokno, in her State of the Department’s Address during the Children’s Month Celebration in Tagaytay City, reported the status of implementation of the various programs and services of the agency in the region.

To date, there are a total of 290,112 families who are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, one of the core social protection programs of the Department. The program provides conditional cash grants to qualified poor families with children 0-14 years old to support their needs on health, nutrition and education.

Alongside Pantawid Pamilya are the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan—Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). With the Department’s convergence strategy, these three programs work hand in hand to ensure increased well-being of beneficiaries.

Dir. Diokno reported 89 completed projects addressing the most pressing needs of poor communities in Quezon Province under the Kalahi-CIDSS program. Various subprojects including school buildings, health centers, water systems and farm-to-market roads from different financing sources such as Australian Aid, PAMANA and Japan Social Development Fund are continuously being implemented in several municipalities in Quezon and Cavite provinces.

Meanwhile, there are about 15,000 families who are provided capital assistance under the SLP. These families are not only provided capital for their micro-enterprise ventures but are also given capability training to improve their skills on handling their finances and running their respective businesses.

Moreover, Dir. Diokno announced the second round of assessment of poor households under the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) this year. Currently, the office is hiring field workers for the conduct of the said assessment.

Dir. Diokno, however, stressed that the NHTS-PR is only a system to determine who and where the poor are.

“Wala po itong (NHTS-PR) kasamang programa o serbisyo. Ngunit ang listahan ang ginagamit na batayan sa pagpili ng mga benepisyaryo ng iba’t ibang programa para sa mahihirap katulad ng Pantawid Pamilya at Philhealth,” she said.

Besides the above-mentioned services, the DSWD is implementing Supplementary Feeding Program, which now caters to 161,174 daycare children in the region. Other programs of the agency include Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens and Core Shelter Assistance Project among others.***